During a segment on Thursday's NBC Today on the upcoming film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty,
co-host Matt Lauer wondered if scenes depicting "brutal interrogations"
of terror suspects would make movie-goers feel guilty: "It's
inevitable people are going to sit in the movie theater...and when they
see the scenes of torture, they're going to ask themselves if they think
it was justified, if the ends justified the means." [Listen to the audio]

Turning to director Kathryn Bigelow, Lauer pressed: "Do you want to
make a political statement with this movie?" Bigelow replied: "Well, I
think the film doesn't have an agenda. I think it just shows the story
as – you know, the story of the greatest man hunt in history. And that's
part of that history." Lauer urged: "But do you want people to discuss
that topic more? Whether these kind of enhanced interrogation techniques
are justified?"

Talking to actor Jason Clarke, who plays a CIA interrogator in the
film, Lauer bemoaned: "...you are conducting interrogations, brutal
interrogations, of terror suspects, that include waterboarding and
putting dog collars on these suspects and, you know, exposing them in
front of other people. How do you even prepare to do something like
that?"

At the top of the segment, Lauer mentioned some of the controversy surrounding the film:

I mean, before this movie was even close to being finished, there was
some controversy. Peter King came out, the Chairman of the Homeland
Security Committee, and said that he wanted an investigation from the
CIA and the Department of Defense to find out whether you guys were
given classified information in the researching for this movie. And a
lot of people were very concerned about that. So let's ask, did you get
classified information from the administration in preparing for this
movie?

Producer Mark Boal dismissed such concerns: "No. I mean, we did a lot
of homework, as – as I hope is evidenced on the screen when you see the
movie. And I hope people go see the movie and judge for themselves. But,
you know, it's an election year and people say things in that
process....I think people will see that we didn't really come with any
agenda at all."

Here is a transcript of the December 6 exchange:

8:35AM ET

LAUER: And we're back now at 8:35 with a new movie called Zero Dark Thirty. It's the story of the decade-long hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the elite team of operatives who worked to track him down.

(...)

LAUER: And let's talk about – I mean, before this movie was even close
to being finished, there was some controversy. Peter King came out, the
Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and said that he wanted an
investigation from the CIA and the Department of Defense to find out
whether you guys were given classified information in the researching
for this movie. And a lot of people were very concerned about that. So
let's ask, did you get classified information from the administration in
preparing for this movie?

MARK BOAL: No. I mean, we did a lot of homework, as – as I hope is
evidenced on the screen when you see the movie. And I hope people go see
the movie and judge for themselves. But, you know, it's an election
year and people say things in that process. And now that we have a movie
that is actually going to be in theaters soon, I think people will see
that we didn't really come with any agenda at all.

(...)

LAUER:
Jason, we meet you early in this movie and it's tough. I mean, you are a
CIA caseworker and you are conducting interrogations, brutal
interrogations, of terror suspects, that include waterboarding and
putting dog collars on these suspects and, you know, exposing them in
front of other people. How do you even prepare to do something like
that?

JASON CLARKE: Well, as an actor, you just throw yourself into it. I
mean, loved the way that, you know, Kathryn and Mark just threw us
straight into the world of these people that we follow, you know, the
people that are doing the job. And as an actor, I just – I wanted to do
justice to, you know, the men and women that served this story. And you
know, in this story that just touched so many people in the world and
everybody feels they own part of.

LAUER: In one of the early confrontations or discussions you have with a
terror suspect, you say to him, bluntly you say, "I'm not your friend,
I'm not a nice guy. And you lie to me, I'm going to hurt you." It's
inevitable people are going to sit in the movie theater, Kathryn, and
when they see the scenes of torture, they're going to ask themselves if
they think it was justified, if the ends justified the means. Do you
want to make a political statement with this movie?

KATHRYN BIGELOW: Well, I think the film doesn't have an agenda. I think
it just shows the story as – you know, the story of the greatest man
hunt in history. And that's part of that history. And so we needed to,
you know, basically show all the pieces of that puzzle. And so that's-

LAUER: But do you want people to discuss that topic more? Whether these
kind of enhanced interrogation techniques are justified?

BOAL: It's a pretty controversial – I think it's a pretty controversial
topic already. And I think we're aware of that controversy. And we're
not trying to score points in it. But hopefully people judge for
themselves. And the people that I've spoken to that have seen the movie
have said it's kind of an edge-of-your-seat thrilling film. So, that's
not bad.

BIGELOW: And my hope is people will see the movie, enjoy the movie, and judge for themselves.

(...)

-- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.

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